Nepal’s former PM Baburam Bhattarai launches party

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s former Maoist prime minister Baburam Bhattarai launched a party on Sunday, urging people disillusioned with old ideologies to be part of “the movement for economic revolution”.

The move came nine months after he quit the country’s biggest Maoist party. The Naya Shakti Nepal was made official at a public gathering in Kathmandu’s Dasarath Stadium where Bhattarai administered oath to thousands of party members. “After promulgation of the constitution, the new challenge for Nepal is development and prosperity, and the Naya Shakti aims to lead that change,” Bhattarai stated.

Bhattarai said the party has a plan to reduce poverty significantly within the next seven years, increase per capita annual income from the present $700 by 10 times within 15 years and make Nepal one of the richest countries in the world in 25 years.